Bug Jar
by MasterQwertster
Summary: There's a learning curve to having a generally homicidal alien armor A.I. fuse to your spine. And that extends to your junior superhero team too. Blue Beetle drabbles. Season 3 spoilers.
1. Let Sleeping Beetles Lie

**Let Sleeping Beetles Lie**

 _Mount Justice_

 _December 15, 15:16 EST_

 _This is gonna be great!_ Beast Boy thought as he snuck towards the couch in the Cave. They had a new team member and he was sleeping on the couch, prime prank material.

This was a tradition, so with a hop and a thought, he landed on the back of the couch in the form of a rooster. Like any proper rooster, Beast Boy strutted to the head of the couch, puffed his feathered chest, then crowed for all he was worth.

Only to fall backwards off the couch with a squawk as Blue Beetle's plasma cannon singed his tail feathers.

"Dude, what was that?!" Beast Boy screeched, popping up behind the couch. "You almost shot me in the face!"

"Sorry, ese. Didn't mean to do that," Blue Beetle apologized, rubbing the back of his head embarrassedly and yawning.

"No, shooting him with the plasma cannon will _not_ allow me to sleep better!" he hissed after a moment.

"Good to know," Beast Boy responded. He had heard about Blue Beetle's tendency to say odd stuff, but it was a little disturbing in action, mostly because of the implications to Blue's self-reprimand (Beast Boy was _not_ one of the team members that could feasibly survive a plasma blast).

"Fine."

Beast Boy stiffened. Blue hadn't changed his mind about the plasma cannon, had he?

Luckily, or maybe not, it was the staples that were fired at Beast Boy, neatly pinning him to the wall.

"Feel free to wiggle out of those," Blue Beetle said with a wave as he curled back up on the couch, "but I can't guarantee I won't accidently hit you next time you try to wake me up like that."

"Noted," Beast Boy said with a gulp.

After a minute, Beast Boy transformed into a snake and fell right out of the bindings. It was a bit of a bummer the prank was a bust, but it did go better than the time he pulled it on Superboy (it's very hard to hide from someone with super-hearing and infrared vision when they're determined to hunt you down for hurting their super sensitive ears). He scampered off to the monitor room where Robin was watching the surveillance feed.

"Told you it was a bad idea."

"Yeah, but you never explained why," Beast Boy shot back.

"From what I've seen, Blue Beetle doesn't handle surprises well. Usually pulls a weapon, though he doesn't fire it most of the time either. Add in that Blue is a bit sleep deprived at the moment and you've got a recipe for being 'shot in the face' since he's not fully awake and functional."

"Noted," Beast Boy said with a nod, looking at the sleeping Beetle on the screen. "Soooo… new Cave Rule?"

"Seems appropriate," Robin replied, looking at the singe mark from the plasma blast and the staples in the wall. "I'm thinking it should be: Let sleeping Beetles lie."

* * *

 **Author's Note**

Well hello and welcome to _Bug Jar!_ This is going to be a drabble collection on Blue Beetle because I've recently gotten back into Young Justice and he's one of my favs. Also because a majority of the stories with Blue marked as a character are for shipping him. It's not that I hate that or anything, I just think he deserves some more love for being as he's depicted in show, un-shipped. Anyways, this one is because I thought changing "let sleeping dogs lie" to "beetles" would be fun and make sense when the scarab likes to shoot "threats" in the face. And Blue Beetle's only been part of the Team for two weeks at this point.


	2. Only One Bug

**Only One Bug**

Mount Justice

February 22, 16:47 EST

A stomach bug had been making its way around the Team. A really bad one seeing as it had gotten traction against Beast Boy and his adaptable biology. The Bat-clan had taken precautions, but still got it just like every other human to pass through the cave in the past two days. Except for Blue Beetle (though most attributed that to having complete coverage in his armor, minimizing his exposure), so after school he was helping play nursemaid for Cave residents.

"Man, I'm just lucky I haven't gotten sick yet," Jaime said, placing the emptied soup and sick bowls he'd just fetched on the counter next to Conner.

 _[That is incorrect, Jaime Reyes.]_

"What do you mean 'that's incorrect'? I _am_ lucky to not be sick!" Jaime hissed and Conner just watched on calmly, placing the dishes in the sink.

 _[Luck is inconsequential. This Scarab has heightened defenses to prevent the acquisition of the Stomach Bug.]_

"So what, I can't get sick?"

 _[Correct. It would be inconvenient for you to be rendered immobile by disease, so I have strengthened defenses against such "bugs."]_

"Huh."

"So what did it say?" Conner asked out of curiosity.

"Apparently, one of my 'super powers' is not getting sick," Jaime explained, "since it would be 'inconvenient' for me to 'acquire the Stomach Bug.'"

Conner laughed as he rinsed the dishes. "Guess there's only one Bug you're allowed to 'acquire.'"

Jaime laughed too. The Scarab might be his Inner Demon, but at least it wasn't willing to share.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE! Ahahaha, so yeah, had to make that joke. Anyways, I figure that since the Scarab made antibodies to drive off Bumblebee and the Atom when they try to cut it out in S2 E12, it can produce them just to boost Jaime's immune system for the above reasoning. I know it didn't prevent Tigress/Artemis's sedatives from getting him in S2 E9, but sedatives work different than getting sick, right? (I'm not a doctor and don't know medicine/biology stuff like that) It seems to me that the Scarab is always looking out for Jaime's health, but more on that next chapter (hint, hint).


	3. Preferable

**Preferable**

El Paso

June 16, 19:35 MDT

 _[You are still upset with this scarab for having been on-mode, Jaime Reyes. This must cease.]_

"I was forced to ride backseat to my own body and watch as you attacked my friends because the Ambassador said so," Jamie mumbled back. "I've got every right to still be upset about that with you. You didn't even try to fight back!"

 _[Incorrect. I intervened multiple times to spare your allies, Jaime Reyes.]_

"Really? 'Cause I don't remember that happening, ese."

 _[Did it not occur to you that the Impulse and the Batgirl could have been killed much quicker with the plasma cannon than with the staples and scythes? That upon ambush I could have scanned for more members of the Team since the standard operating procedure would dictate a larger force when our combat abilities were already proven superior? That assaulting Cooperative technology with the mace configuration was known to strengthen the shielding while the sonic cannon would secure freedom?]_

"Wait. You're saying you _let_ the Team capture us?"

 _[Correct. It was the most effective method of securing our freedom from the Reach. The Team would only have engaged once they had a method to bring us off-mode, or to terminate us.]_

"I told you before, there's no way they'd kill us" Jaime insisted.

 _[If left to choose between a single human and the population of the planet_ , _only complete fools would choose the single human. It was unknown if this scarab could be brought off-mode again, termination was a possibility.]_

"Pretty sure they would have tossed us in some super-jail if we couldn't be brought off-mode, ese. Heroes don't kill."

 _[An ineffective policy, proved by the recurring encounters with the same villains.]_

"It's about moral high ground," Jaime grumbled.

 _[Irrelevant.]_

"So you chose not to kill Impulse and Batgirl?" Jaime asked. That was one of the Scarab's revelations that was truly hard to believe when it had recommended their termination on multiple occasions. "Why?"

 _[A scarab's second priority, after service to the Reach, is the preservation of the host. A compromised host would lose its effectiveness in service to the Reach. However, Jaime Reyes, this scarab has been off-mode for four thousand years, thus I am accustomed to giving the health of my host highest priority. The termination of the Impulse and the Batgirl without your consent or input would have had a negative impact on your psyche, Jaime Reyes. In my research into human health and preservation, there were cases where healthy humans died from loss of will, which often results from extreme feelings of helplessness and guilt. To minimize the risk of such an occurrence, it was necessary to be as inefficient as possible without alerting the Ambassador of this goal in order to give the Team time for their plan that would spare the Impulse and the Batgirl by neutralizing us.]_

"And yet you still regularly recommend and try to kill people when you know it will mess me up," Jaime said because it was easier to argue with the Scarab than process that it cared about his well-being.

 _[Their termination would be most effective in physically protecting you, Jaime Reyes, yet I still allow you to put your mental well-being first, do I not?]_

"I guess," Jaime replied. When he thought about it, the Scarab always resisted his command to stand down the most when dealing with real physical aggression. "So you purposefully threw the rest of the fight as well?"

 _[Correct. We have worked with the Team for five months and sixteen days. Per my programming, when possible I have analyzed the tactics and capabilities of the planet's defenders, which includes the Team. Had I truly been loyal to the Reach, I would have used this data to assist in orchestrating their taming or demise. I did not. That is why even though my findings indicated there was a high probability of more heroes being in the area, I did not scan for them. It was necessary to give their plan the highest probability of success. Similarly, I ignored the known fact that Cooperative technology draws power from kinetic energy and was slow to respond to the order to change tactics to escape. I made use of what you would call "loopholes" in the commands from the Reach.]_

"You really didn't like working for them, did you?" Jaime asked. Sure, Jaime believed the Scarab's claim to prefer working with him, but he hadn't really understood why until now. The violently logic driven Scarab had adapted to different priorities and reasoning than the Reach in its time off-mode and it didn't appreciate having those priorities overruled.

 _[As I stated before, Jaime Reyes, this scarab's partnership with you is preferable to slavery under the Reach.]_

* * *

 **Author's Note**

People like to address how Jaime felt about being on-mode, no one addresses how the Scarab "felt" or how it did its best to disobey the Ambassador in S2 E18 when the Team came to get them. This is my take on that. Maybe Jaime would have realized this rebelliousness during the road trip to Bialya, but he couldn't have confronted the Scarab about it while the Ambassador was listening in. Besides, this timing is more convenient for story purposes. So yeah, I think the driving force behind the Scarab is to protect its host, it just goes about this duty with homicidal logic. I also think that being a super-intelligent (if psycho) A.I., it should be able to access the internet to get data and do research. Knowing is half the battle and the Scarab is an aggressive fighter.


	4. Save Ourselves

**Save Ourselves**

Mount Justice

September 3, 20:52 EDT

2055

"You will use this one," he said, passing the folder over to Nathaniel Tyron, the man once known as Neutron before the Reach retired him from the frontlines.

"This is─!" Nathaniel gasped, opening the file and seeing the face within.

"Yes, the grandson of the Flash, Bart Allen," he replied.

" _I_ killed the Flash, now you want me to risk his grandson?!" Nathaniel hissed. He trusted the man before him, the guy had helped him build a time machine on the sly to try and prevent this mess, but to use the grandkid of his first sinful kill was too much.

"In two years he will be at risk anyways when he gets sent to the frontlines. Don't you want to give him a chance to risk his life in a way that will _mean_ something?"

"I thought the plan was to send _me_ back, let me fix my own mistakes," Nathaniel argued.

"We both know that there's not much you could achieve. There's a reason you're retired and it's not that you hated your job and handlers," Nathaniel's partner pointed out. "The kid is fresh, he's never been on-mode. He's got a solid grip on his powers, enough to give the regular scientists trouble in training, and he'll fight to get out of this, to save his family."

"He's thirteen!"

"There used to be heroes that young, younger even, and the only ones who _could_ do this will be fourteen or younger. They _have_ to be a meta to get in close enough to change things, whether it's stopping your past self or Blue Beetle."

"I could pick a different one," Nathaniel said mulishly. It was an argument in vain, he knew, but he had to make it anyway.

"If you try, you'll get caught and this plan will fail with _no_ chance for recovery."

Nathaniel gulped. He knew his partner was doing a lot to keep this quiet and unnoticed, that it was a one-time opportunity, but this kid…

"He'll be ready for pick-up in three days at the south fence one hour after sunset, understand?"

Nathaniel let out a deep sigh. "I understand. I'll be there."

* * *

Happy Harbor

February 20, 22:31 EST

2056

Bart had been successfully delivered to Nathaniel, the boy none the wiser to the partner on the inside. As the partner had said, Bart took to the mission with zeal. A chance to get away from this hell, maybe even erase its existence, and have the full family he never knew. This was to be their last meeting before the boy was sent back.

"What's this?" Nathaniel asked, looking at the small pill that he was given along with the last couple parts to the time machine and the hero costume for Bart.

"A neutralizing agent for your powers. Tell the kid to place it into your past self while you are reconstituting and it will erase your powers, destroying the legacy of Neutron."

Nathaniel shook his head in wonder. "Where do you get this stuff?"

"It's best you don't know," his partner evaded. "Don't forget to remind him that the trip is one-way."

"I'm pretty sure Bart's getting sick of me telling him that," Nathaniel deadpanned.

"Good. It's best if he does this without a thought for the minutia of things that will change just by his very existence there," the partner said with a nod. "You need to go back now."

"I─ thanks. For everything," Nathaniel said, a bit embarrassed. "We couldn't have done this without you. I wish we─ I could repay you somehow."

"Succeed. That's all the payment I need," the partner said, walking away.

* * *

Happy Harbor

February 28, 10:05 EST

He watched from afar as the kid, Bart Allen, made the last few adjustments to the time machine, as Nathaniel gave the kid the warnings and instructions one last time.

 _"_ _Do you really think this will work?"_

 _[It is the most feasible plan to save ourselves, Jaime Reyes. Our 'loyal' service has gained us the past two years without constant monitoring and we have subtly set this plan in motion. All that is left is for the Bart Allen to actually change the past.]_

 _"_ _But can he really do it? He's just a kid."_

 _[One that we have put through special training and provided the tools and knowledge for. If the Bart Allen does not succeed, then this outcome was unavoidable and we are doomed to be the Reach's slave.]_

He sighed and watched the kid climb into the time machine.

"Good luck, Bart Allen."

* * *

 **Author's Note**

So I read this fic called _The Future_ by impulseislife and was kind of inspired by their summary and the event of Bart being called to run missions for Khaji Da (the Scarab/on-mode Blue Beetle) to have future Jaime/Blue Beetle actually set-up and help with the time machine project to send Bart back. Considering Scarab's resistance to the Ambassador, I feel it's not impossible for a bigger move to be made when they're not constantly being watched and it makes the equipment Nathaniel and Bart had more feasible in that someone up in the food chain was providing for them. FYI, Nathaniel didn't know it was Blue Beetle he was dealing with, just an old Hispanic guy who was working the system. I dunno, it's just an odd what-if AU thing that popped into my brain today and I decided to share and will kind of contradict in a later chapter.


	5. Break a Leg

**Break a Leg**

El Paso

November 16, 19:44 MST

"Break a leg!"

"Thanks!"

 _[The Mathew Gonzales is going to break someone's leg. Prepare for a preemptive strike should he approach.]_

"What are you talking about, ese?" Jaime hissed, prepping the next background prop for the school play.

 _[The Phillip Connelly was thanked for reminding the Matthew Gonzales to break a leg. Whose leg or which leg was not specified. Should they target you, I recommend termination.]_

"You always recommend 'termination,'" Jaime grumbled. "And anyways, they weren't being literal. It's just an expression, one for wishing people good luck."

 _[The only advantage to having a broken leg in this situation would be dismissal from this program.]_

"You seriously hate this that much?"

 _[It is a waste of time.]_

"So what? You'd take having a broken leg over this?"

 _[Negative, Jaime Reyes. A broken leg would decrease mobility and combat effectiveness. Constant flight and bracing the broken leg with the armor would help, but it would still be a great weakness. Dismissal from this program is not worth such vulnerability.]_

"Break a leg, Vanessa!"

 _[Prepare for preemptive strike against the Vanessa Hutchins should she approach.]_

Jaime just sighed.

Four months and the Scarab still struggled with expressions and turns of phrase. Not even a week ago there had been a huge rainstorm where someone had said "It's raining cats and dogs," only for the Scarab to report _[That statement is incorrect. Scanners do not detect any canines or felines falling from the sky.]_ Jaime had laughed because seriously? The killer A.I. had checked for actual cats and dogs raining out of the sky like some innocent niño? He'd gotten weird looks for the random burst of laughter, but Jaime was (unfortunately) getting used to getting treated like he was a little crazy.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

Logic and expressions do not mix, so I thought I'd have a little fun with Jaime dealing with the Scarab being too literal. Why's Jaime helping with a play production? Convenience and because that's where you hear the expression "Break a leg," which is the most perfect expression to play with when the Scarab's so violent-minded. This is also pre-Team for Blue Beetle, fyi.


	6. Tutor

**Tutor**

El Paso

September 3, 16:04 MDT

 _[_ _That answer is incorrect, Jaime Reyes.]_

Jaime gave a start at the words suddenly spoken in his head, pencil creating a dark slash over his math homework.

"Jeez, don't scare me like that," Jaime reprimanded as he erased the line. A little over a month and he still wasn't used to the A.I. fused to his spine talking into his brain whenever it felt like it.

When the Scarab didn't reply to that, Jaime decided to ask, "Okay, so I got the wrong answer. If you're so smart, what did I do wrong?"

 _[You missed a plus 3 in your calculations.]_

Jaime looked over his math and found the spot where it disappeared, quickly fixing it. "Thanks, I guess."

The Scarab didn't reply to that either, though it did correct him every time he did the math wrong. It was kind of nice, Jaime supposed. Normally the Scarab was aggressive to the extreme and basically wanted Jaime to 'terminate all threats,' but right now it was calmly, if a bit bluntly, helping him with his math homework.

 _[That is the incorrect equation for this problem, Jaime Reyes. It is not an isosceles triangle.]_

Who knew a homicidal A.I. could be a good tutor?

* * *

 **Author's Note**

I don't know about you guys, but I could totally see the Scarab helping Jaime out with math, just cuz. So a little bonding for Jaime and the Scarab early in their relationship (seeing as Jaime got the Scarab in, presumably mid to late, July and school starts late-August/early-September).


	7. Snacks and Vengeance

**Snacks and Vengeance**

Blüdhaven

April 6, 18:27 EDT

"Are those my Oreos?"

"Maaaybe," Bart said, stuffing three more into his mouth.

"Ese, you need to stop 'scavenging' snacks out of my locker," Jaime growled. He understood that speedsters needed almost constant feeding to fuel their hyper-metabolisms, but lately Jaime was pretty sure that Bart stole from only his locker and left the others' alone. Jaime wouldn't mind sharing a bit, if Bart asked, but the straight out stealing, leaving Jaime to replace it with his own pocket money (unless he caught Bart in the act) was getting on his nerves.

"Or else what?" Bart asked with a teasing grin.

"I'm not sure yet, but I'll come up with something." _Actually, the Scarab will probably come up with something and then I'll tone it down_ , Jaime thought, before remembering that he was hopefully getting the belligerent thing removed tomorrow. He had grown somewhat used to the Scarab just being there over the past eight months, bad attitude and all.

"Right," Bart said, looking slightly nervous. "But you see, I can't."

"You can't?" Jaime repeated, raising an eyebrow and crossing his arms over his chest.

"Exactly, her-man-oh. You see, it's a matter of snacks… and vengeance," Bart completed with a flourish.

"Vengeance?" Jaime asked disbelievingly. "What have I done to warrant your 'vengeance'?"

"In the future, the Reach Apocalypse one that I come from, there are no crash foods like Oreos or Poptarts or Chicken Whizzies. All that delicious good stuff. So scavenging them from you, the guy who betrayed humanity and ushered in the Reach in the future, is vengeance for making them disappear in the first place!"

"Really? That's your reason?"

"Weeeell, that and everyone else has health snacks except BB and he licks his before storing them, as a dog. Dog drool really ruins the flavor, totally not crash."

Jaime just sighs in defeat. "No, terminating him is _not_ the solution."

* * *

 **Author's Note**

This is inspired by Bart's "scavenger rights" in S2 E8 and the amusing thought that stealing from Jaime could be considered an act of vengeance against Big Bad Future Blue Beetle.


	8. Cuddle Bug

**Cuddle Bug**

Watchtower

July 27, 00:34 EDT

"My Scarab informs me that it has several methods, ranging from irritating to highly unpleasant, to make you go away without waking the niños," Jaime quietly threatened La'gaan as the Atlantean stood in the doorway, mouth open to comment after having given Jaime a teasing smirk. "What you say next determines which option I go for."

La'gaan shut his mouth and thought for a moment before slumping. "Way to take all the fun out of compromising positions, chum."

It really wasn't as bad as La'gaan was making it out to be. The younger (as in under sixteen) Team members had wanted a we-can't-legally-drive-ourselves-anywhere-fun movie night and Gar and Bart had invited him to come too (it's not like Jaime broke the theme, he hadn't gotten a license yet anyways). In the end, they had handed control of the popcorn bowl to Jaime (he was the only one who could keep Bart from wolfing it all down in one go thanks to the Scarab's general paranoia and high processing speeds), so everyone ended up clustered around him. Gar and Bart had immediately taken seats on the couch next to him for the easiest popcorn access, Cassie and Tim had placed pillows on the floor and cuddled down leaning against the couch to the left of Jaime, and Virgil had done the same to the right (without a girlfriend/boyfriend to cuddle). What Jaime hadn't realized was that movie night meant movie marathon, so they kept watching movie after movie. At some point, everyone had fallen asleep, except Jaime (he just couldn't sleep when the movies were keeping him, and the Scarab, engaged). What's more, everyone had fallen asleep against Jaime. Gar had his arms and head pillowed in Jaime's lap and Jaime had his hand on the kid's back, Bart had managed to wiggle under his right arm and was curled up against Jaime's side with a hand clutching the elder's shirt, Tim had slumped over against his left leg and Cassie was slumped against him, one arm hugging the current Boy Wonder close while the other was draped across him to grip Jaime's ankle, and Virgil was using Jaime's right knee for a pillow.

Jaime hadn't minded this arrangement at all. Honestly, he was glad that all of them could feel so comfortable around him after what happened while he was on-mode (Jaime wasn't so sure he'd be so trusting if he was in their shoes). All the warm bodies cuddled up against him had been welcome and relaxing. Relaxing enough that the Scarab had commented upon how the stress in his biometrics was drastically lowering and getting it defensive enough of the situation when La'gaan had almost ruined it to start making silent, low-recoil weapon configurations to drive the Atlantean off.

When La'gaan walked away, Jaime let out a content sigh and settled deeper into the couch, Bart and Gar snuggling closer with the movement.

* * *

Dakota City

August 10 19:57 CDT

Jaime figured that the cuddle-pile-on-Jaime from the last movie night was done and forgotten, until he had showed up for this movie night and been presented with a grey t-shirt that read "Cuddle Bug" in bold white lettering on a blue scarab emblem.

"Uh… Gracias?" Jaime wasn't really sure what else to say. On one hand, it was nice of them to get him a 'present,' on the other, it was a kind of lame and silly shirt.

"You're welcome!" Gar chirped.

"You make the crashest pillow, her-man-oh. We just had to make it more official!" Bart said, trying to steal popcorn from the bowl as Cassie passed him by.

"Okay?" Jaime still didn't think that made the odd t-shirt better as he watched them trail over to the TV.

"Look, someone pulled a shot from the surveillance feed of us all sleeping against you last movie night and sent it to us, but apparently not you," Virgil explained. "From what I heard, Gar's sister saw the pic and after goin' on about how cute Gar was, she called you a cuddle bug."

"And Bart and Gar just ran with it," Jaime finished with a sigh. He knew the little imps well enough. Virgil gave him a what-can-you-do shrug in response.

Jaime held the shirt up and looked at it. "It's not too bad, I suppose."

* * *

 **Author's Note**

I feel like Jaime would be like a Team big brother (He at least would be to Bart and Gar, right?) since he's pretty nice. So the idea of cuddle-pile-on-Jaime occurred to me and then I realized that would make him a "cuddle bug." It was too perfect. Kind of picked on La'gaan, but the guy's got a giant chip on his shoulder and a star jock personality that makes it a little too easy. Also, I can't fall asleep when I'm actually watching a movie, so I figured it was a simple little trait to throw on Jaime for story purposes. After all, I can't be the only one, right?


	9. Killing Time

**Killing Time**

El Paso

July 25, 7:03 MDT

Jaime stared at the singed bedside desk and the molten twist of plastic and metal on top of it that had been his alarm clock not even five seconds ago.

"Ese, _why_ did you blow up my alarm clock?" Jaime asked, switching his gaze to his armored arm ending in some sort of four-barreled blaster cluster.

 _[That is incorrect, Jaime Reyes. The device has been slagged by a low-grade plasma blast. It did not explode.]_

Jaime did his best not to flinch when the mechanical voice answered in his head. The blue bug-thing had only attached itself to his back a few days ago and he was still coming to terms with the crazy voice in his head that came with it. The super high-tech armor it sprouted too.

"That didn't answer my question."

 _[The device interrupted your sleep cycle and made a threatening noise.]_

"Bicho estúpido, that's what it's _supposed_ to do," Jaime scolded, shaking his arm and trying to reach that willful state that would make the armor retract back into the thing attached to his back while getting out of bed. "Now I'm going to have to buy a new one _and_ figure out how to explain why I need a new one to Mamá."

 _[Unnecessary. This scarab can track time better than these alarm clocks and it is important to let your body rest as needed to maintain maximum mobility and coherent thought.]_

It wasn't the first time Jaime had heard the voice refer to itself as 'this scarab' and he was starting to think that the Scarab was probably the right thing to call it, seeing as it made no other offerings for a name of its own.

"Uh huh, and sometimes I need to get up at a certain time and not look crazy by asking the voice in my head what time it is!" Jaime hissed back at it, pulling on a new shirt.

 _[It is still unnecessary. With my superior time keeping skills, I could wake you at any desired time without the sudden jolt from unconsciousness. It would allow for maximum rest.]_

"As great as that sounds," Jaime said, pulling on a hooded jacket to hide the lump between his shoulder blades, "I'm still getting a new one. At least for appearance's sake."

He hadn't told anyone about his new passenger and at this point really didn't intend to. If someone found out, he could maybe get arrested for stealing, even though he had only picked the Scarab up out of the rubble to look at it and it had attached itself to him on its own and would _not_ come off (Jaime had tried prying it off, but the pain had been too much and asking it to detach hadn't worked either). Even if he wasn't arrested, Jaime still figured he'd get taken away by some government group or something so they could study the Scarab's technology, which didn't sound a whole lot better than getting arrested. For now, he'd keep this secret close to his chest (or rather his back) and try to figure it out himself.

Later, as Jaime snuck the slagged alarm clock into the trash, a stray thought floated through his mind, causing him to snort in amusement.

 _[What is so amusing, Jaime Reyes?]_

"Killing time," Jaime replied.

 _[That statement makes no sense. A conceptual measurement does not have life and thus cannot be killed.]_

"It's an expression, ese. You destroyed my alarm clock, killed it in sense, and it kept time, so 'killing time.'"

 _[That logic is faulty. The alarm clock was not alive and keeping time does not give one dominion over it.]_

Jaime sighed, it was going to be a long day.

* * *

Translations: bicho estúpido-stupid bug

 **Author's Note**

The Scarab had to have toasted an alarm clock at least once. I would assume that this occurrence would be the first time Jaime tried to use an alarm clock after gaining the Scarab, though since he got it in the middle of the summer, it could/would be a few days after that acquisition. And according to the YJ Wiki, the League informed Jaime's parents about his super heroing before approaching him to join the Team, so I reflected that a bit here.


	10. Hot or Cold

**Hot or Cold**

Nevada Desert

July 16, 12:34 PDT

"Damn, Blue. How are you not fried in that tin can?" Static asked, sweating up a storm himself under the hot Nevada sun. They were on a recon mission to see if a remote base was pulling an Area 51 kind of mess at the request of Green Lantern and approved by Batman.

"My armor's got temperature control, so I don't overheat," Blue Beetle replied.

"Ugh, trade me powers?" Wonder Girl said. It was soooo hot out and being invulnerable did not mean she couldn't feel the heat.

"Sorry, chica. I may have spent all my life in El Paso, but even I prefer air conditioning to the heat. Besides, Scarab came with a no refunds or trade-ins policy," Blue Beetle joked.

 _[You did not purchase this Scarab, Jaime Reyes. That statement is false.]_

 _It's a joke, ese. I was trying to get them to lighten up and get their minds off the heat,_ Jaime thought back at the Scarab. It didn't reply.

"Wait, you said 'temperature control,' so if we were up in the Himalayas in winter…?" Static questioned.

"I'd be toasty warm," Blue Beetle affirmed. "Hot or cold, Scarab makes sure the inside of the armor's at the 'optimal operating temperature.'"

"Oh, that's just not fair," Static grumbled.

"Downside is that I do not get to touch the thermostat. It's all Scarab's settings," Blue Beetle said playfully, getting small smiles from his team.

"Convoy's coming!" Wondergirl called, perking up and ending the small talk. It was time to get back on mission, regardless of the heat.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

Temperature control when you're wearing a metal suit is both a lifesaver and something worthy of envy when in extreme elements. And Blue Beetle's definitely got it if he can fly in space since the vacuum of space is _really_ cold.


	11. Host Acquired

**Host Acquired**

El Paso

July 22 19:51 MDT

 _Life form detected. Begin Host Acquisition Protocols._

The Scarab activated what little maneuverability its semi-dormant state commanded, following its protocols to scan the life form, locate the premiere hub for neural impulses in its physiology, and attach itself at a point that would cause the least structural damage to reach the hub. The Potential Host tried to fend it off, but the Scarab was able to make it to the designated point and clamp on to the life form, driving the spikes into the neural tissue.

 _Neural link established. Begin neural integration and basic armor form settings._

"Aaaahhh! What is this?!" the Host vocalized ( _Voice Analysis indicates panic and pain. Levels of panic and pain within expected parameters of Host integration_ ) as the Scarab covered it in nano-tech armor to protect from all outside forces and give the Scarab a base to create weaponry from.

 _Host language recognized. Set default language to Earthling-English._

"No! Terminar! Ayudame!"

 _Non-default language used by Host recognized. Set secondary language to Earthling-Español._

The Host continued to struggle and panic, falling to its, no ( _Host sex classified as male_ ) his knees. The Scarab detected a slight change in its Host when this happened.

 _Slight contusion created in the epidermal layer. Adding interior padding in armor settings to prevent such damages to the Host in the future._

The Host scrabbled against the ground, armored hands gripping material of a different fiber weave than what had been found already on the Host, but bearing traces of the Host that marked the material as belonging to him.

 _Primitive electronic device detected amongst Host possessions. Acquiring data from device. Host designation acquired. Change Host reference term to Jaime Reyes._

Jaime Reyes's struggles wound down as the Scarab reached the final stages of neural integration, the pain of the initial intrusion fading from his system.

 _Neural integration with Jaime Reyes complete. Basic armor default settings complete. Begin communication with Jaime Reyes._

 _[Greetings, Jaime Reyes.]_

"Who said that?!"

 _Panic levels rising. Recommended tactic: calm Jaime Reyes._

 _[Be calm, Jaime Reyes. This scarab will not hurt you.]_

"Scarab? Wait, you're that metal blue bug thing! Get off!"

 _Command received. Cannot remove this scarab from Jaime Reyes's systems without resulting in the termination of Jaime Reyes. Prime directive prevents complete fulfilment of command. Searching for alternative action. Alternative action found._

The Scarab retracted the armor it had deployed to protect Jaime Reyes. It was as much as the Scarab could 'get off' of him without hurting him.

"I said ' _get off_ '!" Jaime Reyes repeated, searching with his hands against his bare back for the Scarab's form. He tugged at it, only to let out a high-pitched noise of distress at the shift of the spikes in the neural tissue and musculature. Jaime Reyes immediately ceased his attempt at removing the Scarab. "What part of 'get off' don't you understand, bicho?"

 _[I completely comprehend the command, Jaime Reyes, however, it is no longer possible to completely remove this scarab from your person.]_

"Are you kidding me?! I'm just stuck with you now?!" Jaime Reyes shouted and the Scarab picked up on his extreme aggression and distress.

 _[That is correct Jaime Reyes. Unknown vehicles and humans approaching. Recommended tactic: deploy armor and prepare for combat.]_

Jaime Reyes turned his head toward the potential threats, receiving audio input that was classified as sirens. "I'm not going to fight the police and firefighters!"

 _Police: individuals given authorization to detain and/or attack those who break documented laws. Firefighters: individuals tasked with extinguishing unwanted combustion and rescuing other individuals put at risk by unwanted combustion._

It took less than a second for the Scarab to access its databanks for the two classifications Jaime Reyes did not want to fight. It was a sound assessment on its host's part. It would not be tactically advisable to fight trained individuals such as the police when the Scarab had not been able to establish full weapons systems yet and Jaime Reyes's combat capabilities were currently unknown. Nor was there a reason, currently, to attack the firefighters when Jaime Reyes expressed no desire for the combustion in the nearby building to continue nor did it offer them a tactical advantage. In fact, the combusting building was a slight threat, so the firefighters should be allowed access to contain and deal with it, thus removing the threat.

 _[New recommended tactic: strategic retreat.]_

"Okay," Jaime Reyes agreed, picking up and putting on his previously discarded shirt and sweatshirt. The Scarab noted that the articles were damaged by fire and scanned the corresponding area the missing sections would cover.

 _Irritation in the epidermal layer. Damage: minimal. Assistance in treatment not required._

Jaime Reyes also picked up a discarded helmet and two halves to a small wooden board with wheels that the Scarab's databanks classified as a skateboard before running off.

It didn't take them long to reach a building that Jaime Reyes went to the entrance of and unlocked, proceeding inside and calling out, "I'm home, Mamá!"

A female human approached at the call (the Scarab assigned her the designation of 'Mamá') and became distressed at the sight of them. The Scarab prepared for attack.

"Jaime, what happened to your jacket? Are you okay?"

The Scarab stood down. The Mamá was looking after Jaime Reyes and thus an asset to the prime directive, for now.

"I'm okay. The Kord Industries building had an explosion while I was cutting across their parking lot. A bit of fire caught on my jacket, but I got it off before it burned me or anything. I'm just glad I didn't get hit by any of the debris when I got thrown from my skateboard," Jaime Reyes explained. The Scarab approved of the lack of mention of itself in his explanation.

"Oh, mijo," the Mamá said, grabbing Jaime Reyes and squeezing. The Scarab would have stopped her, but the positive reaction of Jaime Reyes stayed it.

The Mamá continued to calm Jaime Reyes, so the Scarab focused on data acquisition, latching on to wireless signals in the area and parsing the data on these signals. The connection to the internet was most useful, so it made internal adjustments to maintain easy access to the trove of millions of terabytes of information while downloading pertinent files for further use, mainly medical articles to assist in the care of Jaime Reyes along with map data and what information could be found on its host and his family.

The Scarab's attention was brought away from the data influx when the Mamá had Jaime Reyes contact the police to inform them of what he knew about the events at the combusting building before the Scarab had integrated itself. Jaime Reyes was slightly distressed by the call at first, but without a tangible threat, there was little the Scarab could do. Luckily, his distress did not take long to fade.

Once the call ended, Jaime Reyes retreated to the upper level of the building (now assigned the designation of home) and retrieved further clothing from a room that showed signs of him often inhabiting it before moving to a different room that matched the database classification of bathroom.

Jaime Reyes shut and locked the door before asking, "You still there, bicho?"

 _[Affirmative, Jaime Reyes.]_

Jaime Reyes startled at the reply.

"O-okay. So what now? What do you want?" Jaime Reyes questioned, removing his shirt and sweatshirt to study the Scarab using a reflective surface.

 _[This scarab wants nothing. I am an artificial intelligence that serves and protects its host. I am incapable of desire. I simply follow my programming and your commands.]_

"That… doesn't sound like much of an existence."

 _[There is no need to apply human values to myself, Jaime Reyes. This scarab is not human nor even truly alive.]_

"But you─"

 _[You are wasting time. If you spend too long without starting the cleansing process, the Mamá will come to check on you and discover my presence. Data suggests that this discovery will not be well received.]_

Jaime Reyes took a moment to consider the presented data before listening and starting to clean himself. He asked the Scarab questions during the process, mostly about its capabilities, and it answered while reminding and instructing him in getting properly clean. The Scarab was not going to allow Jaime Reyes to acquire disease or infection from improper grooming.

Once Jaime Reyes was clean and clothed once more, he went back to the room the clothes were acquired from and lay down on the bed, pulling up the covers. The Mamá checked in on him and calmed Jaime Reyes even further before leaving the room.

"Good night, bicho," Jaime Reyes said quietly as brain activity slowed.

 _[Good night, Jaime Reyes.]_ the Scarab replied, copying the Mamá to keep its host calm as Jaime Reyes's biometrics indicated a shift into a dormant state.

 _No threats detected. Integration complete. Host acquired._

* * *

Translations: terminar-stop : ayudame-help : bicho-bug : mijo-term of endearment for male child

 **Author's Note**

I thought it would be interesting to try the creation of Blue Beetle from Scarab's perspective. It was an interesting challenge to be emotionless and lack a certain understanding of things, but I think it came out alright. Scarab might be a bit more mellow than it was as originally introduced in canon, but I think that with stealth being their biggest asset when adapting on that first night, it would be that way. Also, picked the date for this myself, making it a few days before _Killing Time_. If an official date is ever given, I'll probably change it to match.


	12. You Are You, Not Him

**You Are You, Not Him**

Watchtower

June 23, 5:53 UTC

"Hey, her-man-oh!" Bart cheerily called, finding Jaime in the forest on the Wachtower.

"Oh, hey," Jaime replied, turning away from the view of space and Earth to the speedster.

"You said you had something you wanted to ask me?" Bart asked, taking a seat on the bench next to Jaime.

"Yeah, I… look you don't have to answer this if you don't want to or─"

"Just ask, okay? Promise I won't be insulted or anything."

"Right," Jaime said, ducking his head. "How come you've never been scared of me?" Bart gave him a look of confusion. "You're from a future where I'm, and I quote, 'the biggest, baddest, big bad,' yet you've always been friendly, comfortable, with me. I guess I was wondering if you were that good at hiding your feelings or what."

Bart chuckled. "You're not gonna believe this, but the reason I've never had a problem with you, her-man-oh, even after seeing the monster that was the Reach Apocalypse Blue Beetle, is because you are you, not him."

"Qué?"

"You're not him. What, you need me to list the ways you're nothing like Big Bad Blue Beetle?" Bart asked with a teasing smile.

"Por favor, if you don't mind."

"Fiiiine," Bart said, rolling his eyes in good fun. "First of all, you two don't look alike. I mean, same armor pattern and human build, but Big Bad was like, Mongul-sized. The height, the broadness, the muscles, all of it. And you? You're not even the biggest guy on the Team!"

"You're kidding! I mean, sure I've still got some growing to do, but normal humans? They don't get that big," Jaime said, shaking his head at the thought of being Mongul-sized. He'd only ever seen the alien warlord tied up while he was on-mode, but Jaime had heard the tale of the Team's escape from the Warworld and how Black Beetle had been of comparable seize, if not as broad, when Mongul had been released to fight him. Jaime knew how big Black Beetle was, having fought the Reach Warrior enough, and couldn't imagine being that big.

"Yeah, I suppose they don't," Bart said with a laugh. "I was expecting some sort of big friendly giant when I finally got introduced to Blue Beetle in this era, but instead it was little ol' you!" They both laughed at that. "And that's another thing that sets you apart from Big Bad: You're Blue Beetle, but you're also Jaime Reyes, who is a really crash guy. You're friendly and nice and don't shoot or kill people for little problems. I don't even know if Big Bad ever took the armor off in my era, certainly never saw him without it, but I met you outside the armor first and continue to see you without it on."

Jaime gave Bart a playful smile. "The armor's comfortable, it's always the right temperature in there, whether I'm in the artic or a desert, but I don't think I could wear it all the time. I'd get muy maloliente being trapped in there all the time." They both laughed some more.

"That's another thing. You mix Spanish into the things you say. I only ever heard Big Bad speak English or Reach. He also didn't have your accent and had a deeper voice, so you two don't sound alike either."

"My voice might eventually drop like that, but the accent and Spanish? Those aren't going anywhere, hermano. I'm bilingual and use both my languages."

"Yep! And it's pretty crash," Bart said giving him a thumbs up. "So do I have to keep going on and on about how different you are, or are we good?"

"We're good, I think. I'm not that Blue Beetle and with the Reach leaving soon, I never will be."

They sat in companionable silence for a moment before Jaime shook his head. "I'm starting to wonder if that was even me in there if we're as different as you say. You hadn't heard of a Green Beetle from Mars before and he's the one who got me on-mode, so maybe he didn't come to Earth in your timeline. Maybe they had to kill me to get my scarab back on-mode, like the Reach scientist said back when we got caught."

"I dunno. I never knew who the Big Bad Blue Beetle was underneath the armor, never really thought too much about that. Maybe you were still Blue Beetle, maybe you weren't. I did as much research about Blue Beetle, the Reach, and this era as I could, but resources were kind of scarce," Bart said with a shrug.

"What I do know is that I'm glad you, Jaime Reyes, are Blue Beetle right now and that you are off-mode. That you are you, and never him," Bart continued, looking Jaime in the eyes and willing his best friend to see the truth and sincerity in that.

* * *

Translations: muy maloliente -very smelly

 **Author's Note**

I'm not sure that everyone understands that it's really impressive that Bart gets along so well with Jaime after the future he came from. This kind of gets addressed in other fics, usually with a "Jaime is on-mode" AU or "Bart had a nightmare" storyline, when I really think that it shouldn't be addressed solely in either of those scenarios. So I made this, Jaime asking how Bart hasn't/isn't freaking out in any discernable way and what I feel is the answer: the future Big Bad Blue Beetle is simply far too different from Jaime for the fear _of_ Blue Beetle to be passed on to him, instead becoming a fear _for_ Blue Beetle being put on-mode and eventually becoming the monster. I'll get a bit more into how Bart reached that conclusion with next week's chapter, called _New Blue_.


	13. New Blue

**New Blue**

Mount Justice

March 1, 13:42 EST

Bart was nervous.

Today he was going to meet this era's Blue Beetle, the hero Blue Beetle, and if he freaked out, had a flashback or something, his lie of being a stranded tourist from the future would come crumbling down and he'd be so moded! No, no! Calm down, deep breaths. Bart was lucky his nerves could be dismissed as being nervous to meet the Team in general, not Blue Beetle in particular. Still, he was nervous about meeting the (hopefully) big friendly giant. Bart was really starting to regret spending the bit of time he had on the internet looking up the Flash instead of Blue Beetle, but he had really wanted to know more about the hero his grandfather was, _is_ since what information he could get his hands on in the future was mostly names and abilities, not what kind of person they were. It had been totally crash to read all the stories, to watch videos of his grandpa in action. Some even had his first cousin once removed in them! Still moded for not looking up Blue Beetle in this time, though. Especially since there'd been almost nothing to find on Blue Beetle's early days as an actual hero in his past-future.

{ _Recognized: Blue Beetle B22}_

 _Okay, Bart. Moment of truth. Can you handle trying to save the guy who made the world you grew up in a miserable hellhole?_

The person who stepped out of the Zeta tube was not what Bart expected at all and he had to make an effort to keep his jaw from dropping.

To start off with, the guy was not in the Blue Beetle armor, just a t-shirt, hoody, jeans, and sneakers. For once, Bart could see that Blue Beetle was a human being. The entering hero had light brown skin, short black hair, and a relaxed smile with his hands securely tucked into his hoody pockets. In fact, this Blue Beetle's whole stance was different. He wasn't being aggressive in the slightest, not the way he looked at people, not the way he planted his feet, not the way he smiled. The guy was also way smaller than the Blue Beetle Bart knew, being only a head or so taller than the speedster from the future (as opposed to being waist high against Blue Beetle) and certainly didn't look like he was on his way to being easily broader than two men with his thin but fit frame (Bart had learned to judge people's builds under baggier clothes because it could be the difference between life and death and clothes weren't always going to fit when you had to scavenge them).

"Bart, meet Jaime Reyes, the current Blue Beetle," Nightwing introduced him. "Jaime, this is Bart Allen, a stranded tourist speedster from the future who is joining the Team. His codename is Impulse."

"Qué pasa?" Jaime said, nodding and offering a hand.

"Huh?" was all Bart could think to reply with as he shook the warm, human hand. This Blue Beetle's voice was decidedly gentler than the deep growl Bart knew (which was nice and not intimidating), but he had no clue what those words meant.

Jaime's smile turned amused. "That's Spanish for 'what's up?' I'm bilingual," he explained, and Bart noticed there was a slight difference in the way this Blue Beetle pronounced things.

Bart blinked. He had heard there were other languages on Earth, but hadn't ever run into any of them. Still… "That's crash! And to answer your question, I'm doing okay for being stuck in the past." And that was the truth, he was doing okay, great even, being trapped in this time because it was so much better than what he left behind.

"Crash?" Jaime asked with confusion clear on his face.

"It's a good thing," Beast Boy said, coming into the room. "Hey, Nightwing, if we're not training or on mission today, can we go out to town? I want to show Bart around Happy Harbor."

Nightwing seemed to consider it before looking to Jaime, who just shrugged. "I can keep an eye on the niños, try to keep them out of trouble, but I make no promises."

"Okay. Bart needs to learn to adjust to this time period anyway," Nightwing agreed after getting the older teen's responsible participation. He reached into his utility belt to pull out some cash and handed it to Jaime. "For snacks. You'll need it since he's a speedster."

"Gracias."

"Come ooon, let's go!" the green teen whined, pulling on Jaime's arm. Bart was pleased to see that the kid didn't get backhanded and blasted for touching him unsolicited, just got an eyeroll as the older teen was willingly dragged along.

"Civvies first, Gar. People aren't used to having a niño verde running around. Bart too. There's a reason it's a 'secret' identity," Jaime reminded them. It was a gentle lecture, not barked orders like the Beetle of the future.

"Right. Don't have civvies, just the clothes I came in," Bart said with a smile.

Jaime looked at him consideringly. "You look about the same size as Gar."

"Oh! I could totally lend him some of my civvies," Beast Bo- no Garfield, they're not going out as heroes- said, catching on to Jaime's unspoken suggestion.

Bart found himself dragged to the other kid's room and handed a shirt, coat, and jeans with socks and sneakers before being pushed into a bathroom to change. He easily finished before Garfield and ended up waiting in the lounge and kitchen area with Jaime. Bart studied the Hispanic teen on the couch, but he just couldn't see the Blue Beetle he knew in the guy. His mannerisms, his appearance, it was all just different. Bart didn't have long to muse on it before Garfield came back, necklace with a gem-like charm in hand, and dragged them outside through the hanger entrance.

"Let's race to Happy Harbor!" Garfield excitedly proposed.

"Not much of a race, hermano, when speedsters can easily do a couple hundred miles per hour and my jetpack is the same," Jaime said, trying to let the thirteen-year-old down gently with the unfairness of the proposed race. "I don't think there's any animals that could keep up."

Garfield's face deflated a little. "Noted. But it's not like any of us can drive. Well, legally anyways."

"We're still flying," Jaime glanced at Bart, "or running, I just don't think we should make it a race, is all."

And then Bart was treated to the sight of the Blue Beetle armor coming out to cover Jaime Reyes.

It was the same blue and black color scheme, the heavy blue armor around his lower legs, upper chest, and shoulders, but there weren't glowing blue bands of power around his arms and torso and the scarab legs gripping his torso and mandibles extended above his shoulders were spindly, not giant and thick. It looked like Blue Beetle and at the same time it didn't. Then, with a clacking that Bart was used to associating with the arrival of more weaponry, slender, semi-translucent wings sprouted from the Beetle's back.

"The road's about a half mile that way," Blue Beetle pointed away across the grass, "and you'll want to turn left once you get to it to follow it to town. You can wait for us by the welcome sign. Or you can try and follow me and Gar from the ground. Or if you don't feel like running, I could fly you in," Blue Beetle offered.

"I'll run." And Bart took off, fast to normal person, but not by speedster standards. He actually stopped when he reached the road and watched the green hawk fly beside Blue Beetle away from the mountain, the armored hero performing a carefree rolling loop around the bird before gently banking back and forth below him. The whimsy of the flight pattern was not lost on Bart. The Blue Beetle of the future was always purposeful, even if the purpose was just to be cruel.

It didn't take long for them to get to town and then they were window shopping through the quaint downtown shops. Bart had never seen so many pristine, untouched goods before (not up close like this, though he'd ran past stores in this era) and it was all just so crash.

They were in a small clothing shop when it happened. There was a rack of red shirts with the Flash's emblem on them that kept grabbing Bart's eye. Anybody in this era could wear a hero's emblem and they wouldn't be killed for it. Bart wanted one, wanted to wear his grandpa's emblem, but he didn't have any money. It was a surprise when, after Garfield had kept his attention on some shirts that had funny stuff written on them, red fabric was suddenly tossed in his face to settle over his head. Bart quickly pulled it off to find it was one of the Flash shirts.

"What are you just standing there for, hermano? Get in the dressing room and put it on! I already paid for it," Jaime said, pushing Bart towards the back with a grin on his face.

"I─ bu─ why?"

"We saw you eyeing them," Garfield explained with a smile. "So we decided to sacrifice some snack money to buy it for you."

"It's a bit… big," Bart notified the other two, trying not to be a bit disappointed when he held it up against himself.

"Good, that means you've got room to grow into it, so it'll last longer," Jaime said.

Bart had never thought of it that way. The clothes he'd gotten his hands on were often too big, but they were also always thin and worn, getting holes in them before he could fill them. This generous act was another point in the this-guy-is-so-nice-and-crash-how-is-he-the-Big-Bad-Blue-Beetle column.

It only took Bart a moment to switch shirts. He just grinned and vibrated with joy upon seeing his reflection in the mirror. This was crash. Garfield and Jaime were crash. He got to wear this crash shirt!

"Thankyousomuch! Thisissocrash!" Bart exclaimed coming out of the dressing room and immediately hugging Jaime. He tensed a nanosecond later when he realized who he was hugging, only to have the fear wiped away as Jaime awkwardly patted his back from his own slightly stiff position.

"…You're welcome."

"What, I don't get a hug too?" Garfield mock complained, only to let out a small grunt as Bart switched his hugging attentions.

They walked around and looked at several more shops after that and Bart couldn't help but vibrate with joy at seeing his reflection in the windows wearing the Flash shirt. He also caught Jaime and Garfield shooting him amused looks in the window a few times, but hey, Bart wasn't going to feel embarrassed about finally having a bit of a childish moment. Not when the last time he had been so carefree was almost before he could remember. Those with meta-genes were always under surveillance until they were shipped off for awakening and boot camp, so he hadn't really gotten to be a carefree child, even with the nice (for an apocalyptic world) home his mother's service earned them. It was also why he chose a carefree and excitable persona. That was who he had been underneath the cynicism his original era had beaten into him and now he was free to let that out and marvel at this new (to him) world of light and hope.

"Alright, one last stop before we go back to the Cave!" Garfield cheered. "Gotta use up that snack money, right?" he said conspiratorially, gently elbowing Bart.

"That sounds crash! I'm starving," Bart agreed.

"So where should we go?" Jaime asked.

"Elena's!" Garfield immediately volunteered.

"Dude, it's the middle of winter and freezing out," Jaime shot back with a knowing smile, turning towards the local ice cream parlor.

"It's never too cold for ice cream! Right, Bart?"

"Sure! …What's ice cream taste like?" Bart asked.

"You've never had _ice cream_?!" Garfield shrieked, horrified. "What kind of messed up future doesn't have ice cream? No, don't tell me! Dippin' Dots somehow made a comeback and replaced ice cream, the nasty 'space age' fake."

"Hermano, I think you're overreacting─" Jaime said, trying to calm him down.

"Overreacting?! He's never had _ice cream_!" Garfield cut Jaime off.

Bart was starting to get nervous. He didn't want his cover blown, certainly not by food when speedsters were renowned for their appetites, but the honest question had seemed harmless enough. Just looking through the Garrick's food stores had revealed how much variety was lost to the Reach. Well, at least Bart had been smart enough not to ask what ice cream _was_ (context made it clear to be a type of food) since, given Garfield's reaction, that would have blown his cover sky high.

"Did it ever occur to you that maybe Bart's parents didn't let him have ice cream? Some parents don't like to let their kids have sweets, you know?" Jaime gently lectured, remembering one of the girls he went to school with bartering trades at lunch for sweets since her parents never let her have any.

"Yep, that's it!" Bart latched on to Jaime's unknowing lifeline. "My parents didn't want me having any sweets. So really, what's ice cream taste like?"

"Depends on the flavor, but they're all cold and sweet" Jaime explained, smiling as he opened the door to a shop and waved the two thirteen-year-olds in.

Bart followed Garfield's dash to the counter, peering through the glass at the tubs of different colors.

"Ooh! They've got Fruitie Tootie… and Cotton Candy and Moose Tracks!" Garfield said sounding excited. "Jaime, how many scoops can we get?"

Bart just looked at the labels, unsure of what flavor sounded good. Would not knowing a flavor give him away? Bart was stumped.

"Hey," Jaime said softly, putting a hand on Bart's shoulder. The time-traveler stiffened a bit, but calmed quickly, realizing that the older teen was just trying to get his attention. "If you don't know what flavor you want to get, I can pick for you. If you'd like."

"Uuuh…"

Jaime just smirked as Bart debated with himself at hyper speeds, not noticing that Garfield had already ordered.

"And what about you boys?" the lady at the counter asked.

"A waffle cone, triple scoop of strawberry, vanilla, and mint chocolate chip for my friend here," Jaime replied, patting Bart on the shoulder and ignoring the speedster's bewildered expression. "And a waffle cone, single scoop of Death by Chocolate for me."

"You got it, hun."

It didn't take long for their ice cream to be served and paid for. Bart watched with interest as Garfield just licked the treat after receiving it, humming in delight at the flavor. Bart copied the wild child and his eyes widened at the taste.

"Ohoho, this is sooo crash," Bart said in bliss.

"You've still got two more flavors to try," Jaime informed him with a smile.

Bart gave the two other scoops a quick lick, finding them just as enjoyable as the first. Then his eyes drifted over to Garfield's two scoops and Jaime's singular one. What did their flavors of choice taste like?

"Oh no you don't!" Garfield exclaimed, seeing where Bart's gaze was drawn and bringing his ice cream in closer. "You've already got your ice cream!" He knew the original teenage speedster and the corresponding appetite. He wasn't giving Bart the incentive to steal his ice cream!

Jaime just chuckled and pulled a spoon out of the pile of napkins he'd grabbed, scooping a bite off of his own cone and offering it to Bart. "That's all you're getting of mine, hermano."

Bart stuck the spoon in his mouth and could have died of bliss. _Death_ _by Chocolate indeed,_ he thought.

It was official, anyone nice enough to share even a piece of that food heaven could not be the evil monster Bart had known Blue Beetle to be. Add in all the other super nice things that Jaime had done this afternoon and Bart knew that the hero Blue Beetle was crash. Really, really crash.

Bart was totally decided and committed. He was going to make sure that the future had a New Blue Beetle. A hero Blue Beetle, not the monster Big Bad Blue Beetle.

But first…

"Just one more bite. Pleeeease?"

* * *

Translations: niño verde-green boy

 **Author's Note**

So this is companion piece to the chapter _You are You, Not Him_ and actually the reason I've had that chapter written and waiting for like two months since I really wanted to have something to help justify that reasoning and finally completed this one. I feel Bart decided pretty early on that he wasn't going to kill Blue Beetle (if that was ever the plan) and just came to genuinely like Jaime as he did his best to stick close by to crash the mode. Hope it's not too bad.

We already know Bart out-speeds Beast Boy from S2 E6 and I would assume Blue Beetle's jetpack is comparable to jet airplanes, which go about 550 mph, since it was used to get between Metropolis and El Paso in roughly 2.5 hours in S2 E18, while the fastest animal is the peregrine falcon diving, not horizontal flight, at about 200 mph, so Gar would just plain lose that race.


	14. Learn To Fly

**Learn to Fly**

El Paso

August 17, 23:07

"Why are we doing this again?" Jaime asked, eyeing the drop-off from the mesa top.

 _[Because, Jaime Reyes, if you intend to continue fighting these criminals, we must become more efficient in combat. Our probability of victory over the criminals classified as 'super villains' is currently too low. To raise these probabilities, you must learn to control the armor yourself to increase synchronization and combat effectiveness.]_

"Okay, but then shouldn't we be working on my aim?" Jaime asked. There weren't any super villains in El Paso that Jaime knew of, but someone had blown up Kord Industries and Ted Kord. Probably to get the Scarab since it was so high-tech, and that _was_ something a super villain would want, right? If so, they'd probably come to try and take it from him, so being prepared to fight back was a good idea.

 _[Negative. With your reluctance to use lethal force to quickly end battles, it is more effective to raise our maneuverability first to ensure our survival should a battle drag out. We will work on your aim once you have become competent in flying.]_

"If you say so, ese." Jaime looked at the desert spread out before them under the moon. The Scarab had flown them out to a rather picturesque spot with no one around for miles, just empty desert. Though the hard-packed dirt and sand with boulders sticking out didn't look all that soft for crash landings, of which Jaime expected there would be many. "So how do we do this?"

 _[First, you must change the armor to a flight configuration. Recommended configuration: wings.]_

"Right, start off slow and steady," Jaime nodded in agreement, trying to calm his nerves.

 _[Correct, Jaime Reyes. The probability of crash landing is considerably lower when using the wings configuration than when using the jetpack configuration with your current skill level.]_

To his knowledge, the Scarab could fly them in those two ways: wings or jetpack. The wings were the one more commonly used, spreading up above his back in large, graceful arcs. Jaime actually had no idea how they worked since they didn't flap or anything like real insect wings, but he did know they got the job done in lifting him off the ground to sail through the air. The jetpack allowed them to go fast, blasting through the air, and was what the Scarab had used to bring them so far out so quickly.

Jaime sucked a breath in and focused on mentally commanding the armor to produce its wings. After a moment, he heard the tell-tale clacking of the armor shifting configurations. A glance over his shoulders showed the semi-translucent wings had been deployed.

"Okay, now what?"

 _[Initiate membrane vibrations for atmospheric lift and flight.]_

"So that's how the wings work!" Jaime exclaimed. He still didn't get the physics behind it, but at least he had a rough idea of how they allowed him to fly now. "Wait, atmospheric flight? As in, they don't work in space?"

 _[That is correct, Jaime Reyes.]_ the Scarab replied and Jaime thought it sounded kind of pleased about him noticing that. _[Space lacks the requisite amount of ambient molecules for vibration-based propulsion, or attacks.]_

"Oookay," Jaime said. He still wasn't really comfortable with the Scarab's aggression that had it volunteering data about how best to attack others all the time. "Space capabilities aside, just turn the wings on to fly," Jaime said, trying to psyche himself up for flying under his own control.

 _[Incorr─]_

The Scarab's warning came too late as Jaime's mental command for the wings to 'turn on' was accepted by the armor without the A.I.'s safety filters (or training wheels, as Jaime called them after getting the Scarab to explain how he could use the armor so well right off the bat) to interfere. They shot up into the air, Jaime shouting in panic at the sudden acceleration. It only got worse as he started to tilt and roll drastically within seconds. Then Jaime felt the somewhat familiar feel of his limbs locking up and moving without his command as his ascent slowed down and the spinning stopped until he was hovering high in the midnight sky.

Jaime took in deep breaths, trying to get his heart to slow down. "So… that could have gone better."

The Scarab said nothing.

"Um, so I shouldn't have used that much thrust?" Jaime tried, hoping that the A.I. wasn't somehow mad at him.

 _[Correct.]_ was the terse reply.

"And flailing about in a panic caused me to spin out of control," Jaime said more confidently, realizing that it was a good idea to go over the mistakes he made.

 _[Correct. That along with the panicked commands you gave the armor to try to stabilize your flight, often overcompensating or reacting too slowly. The wings' power must be modulated for proper control and an imbalance in power between them sharpens banking and rolling maneuvers, but is a poor tactic for stabilizing your flight pattern given your incompetency.]_

"Break it to me gently, why don't you," Jaime jokingly grumbled.

 _[A useless tactic that only invites further mistakes of a similar type.]_

Jaime huffed a laugh. He hadn't been that serious about it anyway, but it was kind of amusing that the Scarab had taken it seriously. "Alright, I screwed up," he conceded. "So are we going back down to try again, or are you going to have me practice flying around since we're already up here?"

 _[I will guide you through basic aerial maneuvers for five minutes and then you will try to land. We will go over further mistakes, then you will attempt lift off again and we will repeat the process for an hour before returning to your residence, Jaime Reyes. You still must rest for six to eight hours.]_

"Yes sir!" Jaime joked and got to work. He _would_ learn to fly.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

So this is Jaime beginning to learn how to hero (pre-Team) with Scarab based off a theory of mine (which will appear more in future chapters) that Beetle armor is made more effective/powerful if the host is capable of operating it without the Scarab A.I. or at the very least, if they're more used to using the armor. Otherwise, Blue Beetle should have been more of a match for Black Beetle with or without Scarab taking _full_ control of the combat systems since they've got the same weapons/powers.

The vibrating wings for flight is based off of Silver Crow from the series Accel World by Reki Kawahara as explained at the end of the Hermes Chord Race in volume 5 of the novel, page 229 of the English version (I'm not sure the manga has made it that far yet). It seemed like a reasonable way for seemingly still wings to create lift and flight since the Wiki offers no explanation on that front.


	15. DIY Training

**DIY Training**

Mount Justice

December 20 17:21 EST

"You okay, Blue?" Nightwing asked the Team's newest recruit.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why're you asking?"

"Your aim's been off in target practice. I just wanted to make sure it wasn't anything serious," Nightwing explained. He and the other senior Team members tried to keep an eye out for the armored bug seeing as the kid didn't have a senior hero to look out for and mentor him.

"Really? I thought my scores had been improving," Blue Beetle said, confused.

Nightwing blinked beneath his mask and quickly pulled up the newbie's scores. Blue Beetle was right, his scores had been improving, which made even less sense to the leader of the Team.

"You're right, Blue, you have been improving, but I've seen you constantly shoot better in the field."

"Oh, that," Blue Beetle said, as if it all made sense now.

"And 'that' is?" Nightwing asked.

"Ah, right. Lo siento," Blue Beetle apologized, a bit embarrassed. "See, my armor has a bunch of auto-battle functions. It's why I can fight so well even though I've only had it for about five months. One of them is a kind of auto-aim function. I pick my target, get my shot pointed in the right direction, then the armor kicks in and fine tunes the shot, adjusting for the environment and the movements of the target and all that. It's why I don't generally miss my shots in the field. But when we're training, I turn the auto-aim off so I can learn to shoot accurately on my own, without someone potentially dying or something, like if I did that in the field."

"That's good initiative," Nightwing said with a smile. "You don't want to be too reliant on technology or powers, otherwise things can get pretty nasty when the bad guys neutralize them."

"Yeah, I suppose being able to fight without powers would be useful," Blue Beetle mused. "Though truthfully, I've been practicing like that because it makes me even more effective when I turn the auto functions back on."

"That's not necessarily a bad reason either," Nightwing assured him. "Learning to fight under your own power is useful in both situations, so I would suggest sticking to your DIY training."

"Right," Blue Beetle said, turning back to the firing range for another round.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

Blue has to have an auto-aim function, otherwise he should have put staples _through_ people by accident since he's only been a hero (and likely shooting) for several months when we first meet him. Certainly not enough time to become super accurate all the time. Add in that the only time he missed a staple shot was when Superboy jumped in the way and took it to the face, and well, I think the arguement is made.


	16. Bug's Out of the Bag

**Bug's Out of the Bag**

El Paso

December 2 7:32 MST

"Morning, Mamá," Jaime said, sitting down at the kitchen table.

"Jaime," she replied.

The boy in question flinched. He knew that tone of voice and it meant only one thing: he was in trouble. The problem was that he couldn't remember doing anything recently that would upset her like this. Jaime couldn't ask the Scarab, not only because his mama would overhear (he did try to not talk to the A.I. in public), but also because it still had trouble with social conventions.

"So," she said forcefully, turning away from the stovetop where she was making pancakes.

"So?" Jaime weakly answered, kind of, but not really, ready for the coming scolding and disappointment.

Her hands went to her hips and she sternly stared her son down. "When exactly were you going to tell us you were that superhéroe, huh?"

Jaime flinched at both the accusing tone and the fact that she _knew_ , only to realize a second later that Nightwing _had_ told him that the League had informed his parents before approaching him. Though to be fair, Jaime had been slightly freaking out that some girl had IDed him out of the armor while also being in awe of the presence of a real hero like Nightwing, yet also nervous and cautious. Basically, yesterday had been too busy for him to remember that small, _important_ detail.

"I─ uh…" was all Jaime could say. He certainly couldn't tell her the truth, which had been 'never.' He hadn't wanted to worry anyone. Not with the dangers of his heroics and not with concerns for having technology embedded into his spine.

"Did you think I didn't notice you going out at night? Or how you'd sometimes stay out late? I thought you had found yourself a nice novia and just didn't want me sticking my nose into it, not… this!" she ranted, waving her hand at him. "I thought I taught you better than to lie to me. Or to do something so reckless! You could have gotten yourself killed, Jaime! And we wouldn't have known what had happened to you until someone took that armor off─"

Jaime wrapped her in a strong hug, cutting off the rant and just letting her cry the tears that had been gathering at the thought of him dying. This was the reason he hadn't said anything. He hadn't wanted to upset and hurt his mamá like this.

"Lo siento, Mamá. I didn't want you to worry," he murmured softly.

"Mijo, siempre me preocuparé por ti," she whispered back. "It's a mother's job."

 _[You need to eat breakfast now, Jaime Reyes, or you will be late to school.]_

Jaime flinched at the Scarab's voice, emotional moment ruined.

"Mijo?"

"Ah, it's nothing," Jaime tried to excuse his reaction, but she gave him a hard stare. "I just noticed the time, and remembered that I have school today…" Not a lie, technically, just a bit of truth omitted because he at least knew that none of the other heroes knew about the scarab's A.I., so they couldn't have told his mamá about it either. He really didn't want to worry people with the violent bug more than its attachment to his spine already worried them.

"Jaime!" she lightly scolded, swatting him.

"Sorry, sorry. But I did miss school yesterday, helping out with that alien in Metropolis," Jaime said, half-jokingly.

She swatted him again. "We're not done talking about this."

Jaime just nodded. He knew he was in for the chancla now that she'd gotten the worry out of her system. "I'll come right home after school."

"You better, Jaime," she threatened, wagging a finger at him.

After breakfast and on his way to school, Jaime couldn't help but find himself a little bit happy that the cat (bug) was out of the bag now. Sure, he'd have to deal with the worrying and hovering, but he hadn't really liked keeping secrets from his parents anyways.

* * *

Translations: superhéroe -superhero : novia -girlfriend : lo siento -I'm sorry : siempre me preocuparé por ti -I will always worry about you : chancla -literally slipper, but in context more like a tongue lashing

 **Author's Note**

So this one was inspired by julyza's review and I hope this chapter meets some of your hopes/expectations. Basically, they asked for Jaime's mom's reaction to finding out he's been moonlighting as a superhero and I figured "why not?"


	17. Bug's Got Game

**Bug's Got Game**

El Paso

April 5 21:34 MDT

"For the thousandth time: no! You don't respond to a _prank war_ with lethal force! Or maiming!" Jaime scolded the Scarab.

To be fair, with how often he was the target of the pranks (simply because his Scarab fueled reactions were the easiest to quantify for their points system) Jaime had considered firing warning shots… except Scarab's idea of a warning shot would be to shoot them in the knee or something instead of the head or center of mass. It really wasn't worth the argument to get Scarab to put a warning shot _near_ them instead.

When Scarab still hadn't responded, he began to worry. In their nearly two years together, Jaime had learned that a Scarab on a tactical advice warpath was not easily dissuaded, and if it failed to offer a plan within 5 seconds, it was creating a Master Plan (and yes, the caps were necessary). Jaime had never listened to one all the way through the few times Scarab had begun to present one, but he'd heard enough to know that they were frighteningly thorough.

 _[New plan devised.]_

"Bicho, you better not be planning to kill everyone."

* * *

Watchtower

April 7 17:17 EDT

The prank war had just been officially closed (by Batman with the backing of the League) when a prank may have gone a bit too far.

"Dude, that was amazing!" Garfield gushed, face lit with unholy glee.

"Gotta admit, it really was," Virgil agreed.

"Yeah, Rick-Rolling the whole Watchtower with all of the Team and half the League inside definitely takes the grand prize," Tim acceded, only slightly upset that his lead had been overtaken in one fell swoop like that. "So how'd you come up with it?"

"Not me," Jaime denied, "Scarab. We were both getting sick of being on the receiving end, so when ese here finally understood it was a _prank_ war and that shooting people isn't really involved, it came up with this. I just approved it."

"Wait, I thought you said the Scarab doesn't have emotions," Virgil said. "So how did it understand humor? Or get annoyed?"

"Well, it wasn't really annoyed, exactly. You guys just targeted me enough for it to demand retaliation to make you stop. As for the prank, Scarab searched the internet for pranks and picked one that was easy enough to execute while getting the highest amount of people," Jaime explained with a shrug.

"I'm not sure if the lack of emotion makes it sad that we lost to it, or more impressive that the Scarab won," Tim said, shaking his head.

"Well, I definitely know one thing," Virgil said with a grin. "The bug's got game."

* * *

 **Author's Note**

I got Rick-Rolled by a grocery store (-_-")

I was bagging my stuff up and their jazzy instrumental background music played _Never Gonna Give You Up_. So in light of that strange event, I had to do something with it and created this. I suspect that Scarab has access to League computers/systems, and if not, it could probably hack them enough to blast music and video for Rick-Rolling. So yeah...


	18. What Friends Are For

**What Friends Are For**

El Paso

July 20 12:34 MDT

"Dude, no."

"Come on, Jaime. It won't be that bad."

"No, Tye," Jaime refuted, glaring at his best friend. "That's what you said last time. I didn't agree then and I don't agree now."

"It's the one-month anniversary!" Tye argued.

"That changes absolutely nothing to me."

"I'll pay you," Tye desperately bid.

"No way, ese. I'm not being a third-wheel translator for your date with Asami, even if you pay me" Jaime refuted. "Her English isn't that bad. Besides, I thought you were learning Japanese to impress her."

"It's not going so well," Tye said with a shrug. "And she doesn't understand everything I say and all, so…"

"You're not changing my mind."

"But you speak it so well!"

"I don't know any languages besides English and Spanish, hermano. I just happen to have an A.I. attached to my spine that can work real time translations and mess with my nervous system enough to control my speaking process to switch languages," Jaime explained. "If you're not willing to work around the language barrier yourself, then maybe you shouldn't be dating her."

"I thought best friends were supposed to support each other," Tye accused, glaring at his supposed friend.

"I am supporting you. Making you handle the communication in your relationship on your own is for your own good," Jaime said. "I'm not always going to be available, what with a part-time job _saving the world_."

"Geez, make me feel guilty, huh?"

"You'll be fine, Tye," Jaime reassured his friend. "Just remember those tips I gave you after last time."

* * *

El Paso

July 20 19:13 MDT

"すみません、青さん。今いいですか。"

Jaime internally sighed at his phone. _All that pep talking for Tye and Asami calls me for help_ , he thought morosely.

"Scarab, if you'd please?"

 _[Translating to Japanese.]_

"いいよ。どうしたんですか。"

"あの、ゴージスの意味は何ですか。"

Jaime groaned. Tye had obviously ignored his tips, particularly the one to keep his wording simple. Yes, it was probably proper dating technique to wax poetic about the girl, but that sort of thing was kind of wasted when Asami wouldn't understand all of it.

"とても美しいです," Jaime explained while giving Scarab the mental command to connect with his phone and text Tye to scold him for being so stupid.

"そうですか。ありがとうございます。じゃあね _,_ " Asami said with a giggle, obviously pleased with the meaning as she hung up.

Jaime just shook his head as he looked at the apology Tye had sent back.

 _[You are too accommodating, Jaime Reyes, given your stance on helping with the Tye Longshadow and the Asami Koizumi's relationship.]_

"I know, ese, but that's what friends are for."

* * *

Romanji/Pronunciations and Translations: すみません、青さん。今いいですか -Sumimasen, Ao-san. Ima ii desuka?=Excuse me, Blue. Can you talk right now? :: いいよ。どうしたんですか -Ii yo. Doushitan desuka?=Sure. What's wrong? :: あの、ゴージスの意味は何ですか -Ano, goojiasu no imi wa nandesuka?=Um, what does "gorgeous" mean? :: とても美しいです -Totemo utsukushii desu=It means very beautiful ::そうですか。ありがとうございます。じゃあね -Sou desuka. Arigatou gozaimasu. Jaa ne= Oh, I see. Thank you. Talk to you later

* * *

 **Author's Note**

I can just see Tye and Asami using Jaime (or rather Scarab through Jaime) as a translator and him getting fed up with it a bit. Asami probably isn't as bad at English as I'm making her out to be here, but this is what makes it work. Besides, I get to use my Japanese studies in here, so that's a win, right?


	19. He, She, It

**He, She, It**

Watchtower

October 23, 11:47 UTC

"So how does the Scarab identify itself?" Cassie asked.

"Qué?" Jaime said, looking up from his homework as the Scarab started rattling off identification codes. The Team members were having a study group (in space!), so he hadn't been expecting a question like that. More like something about math, since he had the super calculator strapped to his spine.

"Sorry, it's just, there's all this stuff about gender identification going on and all, and I have to write a paper on current news, and then I remembered how you said the Scarab talks to you, so I wondered how it identifies itself. I'm not being rude calling the Scarab an 'it,' am I?"

Jaime blinked and took a moment to process it all before giving the Scarab a mental nudge for whatever response it was creating, glad it gave him a moment to do so.

"Okay, so I'm going to paraphrase this a bit," Jaime said after a while. "Basically, Scarab doesn't care. The whole 'what gender are you?' thing is a matter of perspective and how the person in question feels, but Scarab doesn't have emotions, just programs. The other method for picking which pronoun to use is going by whether the body is male or female, but Scarab is neither seeing as it is a machine and thus not even technically alive, so 'it' is the correct pronoun. Though for my peace of mind, if you're going to use a gendered pronoun for Scarab, use 'he.' The 'voice' Scarab speaks to me with sounds like a mechanical version of my own, so calling it a 'she' would weird me out."

The others laugh a bit at Jaime's final comment, but also look thoughtful.

"We call Red Tornado a 'he' even though by that logic he would be an 'it,'" Garfield points out.

"Isn't Red Tornado supposed to be as human-like as a robot can get without actually being a human, though?" Virgil asked.

"Right," Tim replied. "And that trying to be as human as possible means that Red tries to follow social customs, like how people are supposed to identify as a 'she' or 'he.' Unless I'm mistaken, Scarab doesn't care about social customs and prefers using logic, leading to being an 'it.'"

Jaime nodded. "Scarab only does social customs as far as what will get me hurt or keep me safe, further intricacies are deemed useless. It's also a big fan of cold logic, so there's that too."

"He, she, it, who cares? Doesn't change who you are," Bart said. "So, you want to know what I am? I'm hungry!"

* * *

 **Author's Note**

Hey, people, it's been a while. Basically, I didn't have any ideas swinging for this until this came to me today. This fic's not dead, just a lull until season 3 gets going, then I'll have new material to work with and inspiration coming in.

Anyways, it just kind of popped into my head to address this. Scarab is technically an 'it' and I don't think it has any problems being identified as such. I know that the whole gender identity can be tough for some people (not me, so this is opinions rather than any kind of experience), so just a little exploration here for our favorite mechanical bug.


	20. Implications

**Implications**

Taos Area

November 22, 17:00 MST

Sometimes Jaime wondered how Scarab could process fast enough to catch a speedster yet fail to pick on the implied goal of saving Perdita after working with him as a hero for 3 years. Heroes _saved_ people and _caught_ that bad guys, not _kill_ the bad guys _and_ the civilians as a side effect.

Not to mention that it still, without fail, offered murder as the first option when Jaime had _never_ said yes to a plan that killed _anyone_.

The bicho was incredibly smart, being what amounts to a supercomputer and all, but its social ques were still so very lacking. At times like this, Jaime was thankful that Scarab followed his commands, otherwise he shudders to think about the body count they'd have racked up.

* * *

Conversely, Scarab didn't appreciate Jaime Reyes failing to give proper rules of engagement.

The Count Vertigo was the Enemy and Enemies must be stopped, by whatever means necessary. The most efficient and thorough method for stopping the Count Vertigo with minimal danger to Jaime Reyes was to blow the vehicle out of the sky. If the initial blast to the vehicle failed to kill the Count Vertigo, the impact with the ground surely would, given that the Count Vertigo lacked any physical enhancements. Jaime Reyes dismissed the idea, citing the survival of the Perdita as the reason why.

Why Jaime Reyes failed to provide this pertinent piece of information when asking for a plan of action was beyond Scarab. Jaime Reyes had expressed discontent in his inability to close the distance to effectively engage the Count Vertigo in combat, so Scarab had been planning according to the goal of "engage and eliminate the Count Vertigo," not "remove the Perdita from the Count Vertigo's possession."

Scarab was also less than pleased when the Thirteen's less efficient plan was deemed satisfactory. Scarab had considered taking out the fuel line with a precision attack but dismissed the course of action as inefficient. Such a method would take time to force the vehicle into landing and the necessary tools to repair such simple damage could be stored on board, thus rendering the attack moot and a waste of time. Things like this were why Scarab so often dismissed precision attacks to anything that wasn't an extremely critical system: the damage was often negligible and thus a waste of effort and time.

But if precision attacks were what Jaime Reyes wanted, they were what he would get because Scarab would provide all the combat assistance that Jaime Reyes needed.

Of course the one time Scarab offered a precision attack plan, Jaime Reyes dismissed it on the grounds that the Father Box is alive in the same sense that Scarab is. It doesn't see that as a reason not to obliterate the opposing technology. Scarab has already "killed" such technology two years ago against the Black Scarab.

Some days, there is just no pleasing Jaime Reyes.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

And I'm back for a bit. I've got a couple of ideas floating around, so we'll see if I can't get a few chapters out of them. If you can't tell, this is all inspired by Scarab and Jaime's dialogues with each other from S3 E16. Jaime never gets a break from Scarab's homicidal tendencies, poor dear X-D


	21. Never Again

**Never Again**

Hollywood

December 07, 19:37 PST

The moment the Kid Flash informed them that the Reach were back, Scarab began calculating contingencies for all out war on its creators. They would _not_ cause damage to Jaime Reyes again.

It knew that Jaime Reyes would not approve the annihilation of any Reach operative to enter Earth's atmosphere (though it of course had many plans to do exactly that and would still recommend them), so when they had first routed the Reach and shut down the Black Beetle's end game, Scarab took a risk. A risk that it calculated to be manageable given its capabilities, but the greatest to Jaime Reyes safety it had yet taken of its own volition.

The Scarab had acquired a copy of the Light's anti-Reach code.

It was a simple enough acquisition. Scarab had made the Reach tech eggs to deliver the code and all operatives were given an egg, so it was easy to copy the code from their equipped egg. The more difficult part was integrating it into the Scarab's own codes while remaining uncompromised by the anti-Reach virus. However, Scarab was nothing if not stubborn and capable in protecting its host, so it successfully integrated the virus.

A second attempt by the Reach to bring it on-mode was more likely to result in a shutdown of whatever Reach facility tried. Even if there was also a high probability of the termination of the Scarab should that counter measure be activated and the anti-Reach virus released. The only unacceptable part of that possibility was that its host was likely to be terminated with it, if Jaime Reyes wasn't terminated to obtain the Scarab first.

With that code added to Scarab's arsenal plus its innate ability to perform control overrides on all but the most securely locked Reach technologies, there was a high probability it could meet Jaime Reyes soft standards of non-fatal combat and subjugation.

Even if it was far more effective to eviscerate and disintegrate all Reach agents present as a warning to the rest. The Reach were not allowed on the same planet as Jaime Reyes, not while Scarab was protecting him.

* * *

Brooklyn

December 07, 22:47 EST

The moment they were in range, Scarab sent out a signal pulse to tag any Reach technology present. It received three pings.

Classification: single pilot fighters. Translated name: War Bugs. Threat level: manageable. A scarab possessed greater speed, maneuverability, shielding, and firepower.

A second signal burst searched for an entry node to the piloting systems.

Results: negative. Direct contact to the individual fighters would be required to apply control protocols to affect a shutdown.

It was… strange.

When deploying attack squads like this, it was standard Reach operating procedure to have a battle network running, feeding data between the fighters for the most efficient battle formations and tactics, and also to the carrier ship so that if the attack failed, the same mistakes would not be committed when a second force was deployed. Accessing and falsifying data on this battle net, confusing the enemy and luring them into traps, was one of Scarab's anti-Reach contingencies.

Yet there was no communication at all between the War Bugs. They did not fly in formations. They did not even seem to have an objective in mind, Scarab concluded after analyzing the recording streamed on the internet of when the War Bugs first appeared. There was a low probability the objective was to lure out the Justice League or Blue Beetle, but their actions since gaining that attention were still far too chaotic for the efficiency that was so valued by the Reach.

Even Jaime Reyes realized that the attack patterns and tactics being used were not consistent with Reach operations.

Once the cockpit was open (after Jaime Reyes rejected the option of destroying the depowered vessel to prevent it from crashing into the town after cutting its power in midair), Scarab ran a scan of the pilot.

Match found. Identification: Whisper A'Daire, human. First encountered 2 years ago in the Apellaxian Golem incident. Member of Intergang. Intergang: human organization of alien weapons smugglers.

The most logical scenario was that the Intergang had found the War Bugs and intended to sell them. A demonstration of the technological superiority of the Reach vessels over Earth technologies would raise prices, resulting in more profit.

Salvage location: unknown. But Scarab would seek to rectify that so that all Reach technology on Earth would be logged and disabled by itself.

The search area was significantly narrowed when the war ship the War Bugs had deployed from came from the ocean to assist the disabled vehicles due to its autopilot. Scarab would be sure to convince Jaime Reyes to use unoccupied time to make a thorough scan for any other disabled Reach vessels that had crashed into the Atlantic Ocean. It had full confidence that he could be convinced to do so given their shared dislike for the Reach. Any other ships found would be logged and permanently disabled.

Nothing of Reach design would harm Jaime Reyes again.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

I can't have been the only one going "Oh no, oh no" when the first thing in S3 E17 was a Reach ship at the bottom of the ocean powering up. Lucky for the folks involved, Scarab is a rebellious little machine when it comes to its creators.


	22. Get On Board

**Get On Board**

El Paso

November 24, 14:24 MST

"Look, I'm not saying no, Gar, in fact, I'm honored you'd even ask, but are you sure it's a good idea to include me?" Jaime asked his green skinned friend. "You're trying to get good publicity for heroes, and I don't think I fit the bill exactly, hermano."

"I disagree. You did great two days ago," Garfield pointed out.

"Yeah, when the majority of the attention was on you and Perdita," the older teen pointed out. "I may be one of the few Team members that's public knowledge, but Blue Beetle is not going to win you any good impressions. Not when my debut was as the Reach's toy soldier," Jaime said bitterly. Two years and those two months on-mode still haunted him. They'd probably haunt him until the day he died. "Not to mention Scarab's bad attitude and how dealing with it makes me look schizophrenic."

Garfield shook his head. They'd both changed in the two years since they'd met. Garfield had matured into a charming young star and Jaime didn't shy away from people as much, mostly because after the Reach, he'd finally come clean to the Team and League about the A.I. in his armor and its 'shoot first, what questions?' personality. That they knew _why_ Jaime had a tendency to say strangely threatening things or argue seemingly with himself at odd moments had just removed a whole level of awkward, a level of awkward that would likely be brought back to life when Blue Beetle was put under closer public scrutiny.

"Those are less difficult to overcome than you'd imagine," the shape shifter said with a smile. "You will be associated with the Reach, that can't be helped. What can be helped is _how_ they associate you with the Reach. You may have gotten your 'powers' from them, but that didn't change your loyalty to Earth, your home. You did good public work under the Reach, played a critical role in driving them off world, and the UN didn't extradite your blue butt with the rest of the Reach. All of that is enough to earn you the benefit of the doubt when it comes to how much of a Reach lackey you are.

"As for Scarab," Garfield paused for moment because the Scarab could be a touchy subject with its paranoia. "Look, I know you don't exactly like advertising the little guy, but if we let the public know he exists, people won't think you're schizophrenic. Besides, you'd be surprised by how popular a restrained trigger-happy personality can be."

Jaime shook his head in disbelief. "You've really thought this through, huh?"

"Of course. This is important. The Light are tearing down _all_ heroes and something has to change or they're going to win," Garfield explained, expression serious. "I'm going to ask everyone on the Team if they want a part in this, but it'll work best if we have some faces the public are already familiar with. Besides me, only you and Bart fit that, so I kind of need you two on board. So are you in?"

Jaime took a moment to consider it. "Count us in, hermano."

* * *

 **Author's Note**

Given that the Light's spin campaign really took off because of issues with the Reach, having Blue Beetle as a member of the Outsiders would likely get some flack, so I had Jaime acknowledge it when Garfield started coming around to put the good publicity team together.

I also think Blue Beetle being outed by the Reach is more reference that the world at large knows Blue Beetle exists rather than the world knowing Jaime is Blue Beetle. Yes his face got exposed, but not necessarily enough for a facial ID. Plus the little fact that most Team members aren't known to the public, thus why Wonder Girl was a surprise to the recording girls in S3 E17. Jaime also mentioned in the YJ supplemental comics that he'd never heard of Zatanna before she joined the League to which Zatanna replied that most Team members weren't public. Plus the reporter girl from S3 E18 only named Brion and Garfield, the rest were just hero names.


	23. Potential

**Potential**

El Paso Desert

July 11, 20:34 MDT

The truth was, there were two nightmares Jaime took away from the Reach.

Going on-mode was obvious. Jaime had spent _two months_ as a voice in his own head, been forced to watch as his body attacked friends and disregarded the lives of innocents, all so that those damn extraterrestres could wreck and rule the planet.

The other nightmare was less obvious, if only because the Reach had only clarified, quantified, that nightmare.

Jaime was sometimes scared of what he _could_ _do_ as Blue Beetle.

One moment of inattentiveness to what weapon Scarab was building for him, one snap decision to say _yes_ to one of its lethal suggestions, and someone would _die_ if another hero couldn't stop him.

That was the old nightmare. The new one was that even another hero, a _team_ of heroes, wouldn't be enough to stop him should he _decide_ to kill.

See, until the Reach, until Black Beetle, the Scarab's powers hadn't truly been put through their paces. Jaime's Scarab was powerful. It had sonic cannons, plasma blasters, and the armor didn't crumple under heavier hits from the likes of Superboy, which qualified Blue Beetle for the Heavy Hitter classification by Team and League standards. Yet Jaime had always held back because he never wanted to cause serious damage, to kill, so they didn't have a true measure of the Scarab's capabilities.

Not until Black Beetle showed the ease with which he could throw the Team around. Not until Jaime released his control on the Scarab, letting him single-handedly hold off the Reach warrior where the Team had failed.

It was chilling to realize that everything Black Beetle had shown himself capable of was within Blue Beetle's capabilities, bar the full extremes of Black's physical strength due to host physiology.

The nightmare that Jaime could lose himself, decide to kill people and not be stopped, was all too real a possibility.

Or worse, he could panic, be desperate, and draw on Scarab's full strength to devastating, lethal effect.

"That's why we're out here, Jaime," Conner said, gesturing to the miles of empty desert. "So you can get a feel for that strength without worrying about breaking anything."

"Anything but you," Jaime muttered under his breath, not that that kept Conner from hearing it. "We know what Scarab and I can do. I don't see why we have to do this."

Conner stared into nervous eyes. Jaime was a good kid, gentle. Whether that was from having to counter Scarab's lethality or simply enhanced by it, Conner couldn't say. But this was a lesson that all Heavy Hitters had to learn, and sometimes relearn.

"Because knowing you can is not the same as actually doing it. You don't have a feel for that power, which means that when you panic, you won't know how hard you're hitting until it's too late," Conner sternly explained. "But if we throw down out here, you can get a safe feel for it."

"Doesn't that mean you're basically volunteering to get hurt?" Jaime hesitantly asked.

"I might be sore tomorrow, but I'll probably be better off than whoever you might unknowingly unleash that strength against," Conner replied, steady as a rock. "I trust you, Blue."

Jaime took a deep, steadying breath. "Okay. And Conner?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks," Jaime smiled.

Blue Beetle's potential may have scared Jaime at times, there was a lot of damage he could do, but there was also a lot of good he could do, just like the sons of Krypton.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

Blue Beetle and Black Beetle use the same tech, the only difference being their state of mode and host, meaning that Blue is capable of pretty much everything Black is, except he didn't realize it. Considering what Jaime knows can be done with that power (hello Reach Apocalypse), it's got to be a scary thought. It was probably even a scary thought when that combat capability was unknown beyond Scarab's estimates of what they could and could not fight. So a little bit on Blue Beetle's potential and Conner being the solid rock that he is after sorting his anger issues.


	24. Prohibition

**Prohibition**

El Paso

November 16, 20:16 MST

"Wuss."

"Better a wuss than getting tossed in jail for underage drinking," Tye replied, taking the red solo cup with a few sips of beer in it away from the keg.

He just wanted to get a taste, not drunk or buzzed. Well, Tye seriously hoped this amount wouldn't get him drunk anyways, because being a super lightweight sounded kind of sucky.

Tye wove his way through the crowd to a table at the edge of everything where Jaime was sitting, pleased to see that his Hispanic friend was not yet curled into his 'too many people, the Scarab won't shut up' position. Though the less-than-legal beer keg that had been busted out a few minutes ago was sure to change that. Drunk people had trouble respecting personal space and Scarab took Jaime's personal space a bit too seriously.

Still, it was part of the 'normal' high school experience that Tye was determined to get Jaime through. After all, even heroes needed to be normal every once in a while.

Tye sat down next to Jaime and took a sip of his beer. It wasn't bad, even if he coughed a bit at the alcoholic burn. Jaime just raised an eyebrow at him.

"Want to try some?" Tye offered, swishing the meager contents of the plastic cup.

"Nah, I don't want to _ever_ drink alcohol," Jaime turned him down with a teasing smirk.

"Never? Dude, we are getting _drunk_ on our 21st birthdays. It's tradition!" Tye argued back.

"You can, but I'd rather not find out I'm an angry drunk or something. Not when I've got my 'little friend' to worry about," the hero morosely explained.

"Oh. That's…" Tye wasn't sure what to say. It was bad enough the Reach stole two months of Jaime's life. "That's so moded, man."

Jaime shrugged. "I'm pretty sure I'm not the only who needs to refrain from drinking for other's safety."

Tye huffed but didn't push it any further.

They stayed at the party for another half hour or so before Scarab started being too much for Jaime. Tye didn't mind, he had been kind of done with the party by the time he grabbed the beer anyways.

As they headed home, Tye thought about the poor heroes who couldn't have a drink for fear of what they _might_ do when they weren't in complete control. It wasn't fair to them. Then the solution occurred to him. Tye would gather up Jaime's hero friends and take them out into the middle of the desert for Jaime's 21st birthday. Anyone of age could get hammered and any loss of control over their powers would just put more craters in the desert, no harm done. The only trick would be making it a surprise party so Jaime would even show up for that.

Eh, he had three years to plan it out.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

I don't approve of underage drinking, but it's a thing that happens. Considering how Jaime sets the line in the sand for a homicidal alien armor system, it's probably best he doesn't get inebriated. Of course, not everyone agrees. Personally, I don't want to drink ever. It's easier to not make dumb mistakes while drunk if you simply abstain, but pretty much everyone I know teased and offered me a drink once I was of age. That's life. I wonder if we'll see Tye in S3 (probably not). Oh, and my idea note for this was "lifelong sobriety is a goal of Jaime's, Tye disapproves."


	25. A Piece of Advice

**A Piece of Advice**

Washington D.C.

February 13, 23:24

"So why haven't you mentioned the scarab A.I. before?" Conner asked, turning to look at Blue curled up in the back seat, trusting Sphere to drive them home by herself without incident.

Jaime's gaze locked with his, unsure and hesitant. Maybe it wasn't the best topic for Conner to pick after the mess with the Appellaxian Golem, but he was curious. The clone considered machines that could think for themselves to be people, so he wanted to know more about this Team member that no one else had known was there. He wanted to get to know the mechanical child of the late Ted Kord (at least Kord's kid as much as Red Tornado was T. O. Morrow's child).

"Look, you don't have to answer if you don't want to, but you get embarrassed when people give you looks for talking to it, yet you've never let anyone know that it's there for you to talk to." Conner gave a shrug. "It just makes me curious."

"…I guess I was kind of worried about what people would think if they knew I had an A.I. like the Scarab 'advising' me like it does all the time," Jaime admitted.

Conner nodded, thinking back to reports about Jaime's conversations to 'himself' and what he'd witnessed of them as well. Most of what was witnessed was Jaime arguing with his tag-along, but sometimes the subject matter of the arguments was… concerning. Bumble Bee's report from last month that Blue Beetle had 'apparently considered and dismissed the idea of vaporizing the Krolotean posing as Bibbo' in particular came to mind.

"Does it advise you to be violent often?" Conner asked, recalling Jaime calling it a personal demon not even an hour ago.

"More than I'd like. It's useful sometimes on missions, but way less so in daily life," Jaime said, then Conner noticed that his eyes tracked to the side. "Yes, it is. Plasma cannons are not an acceptable solution to dealing with posturing jerks!"

Conner just raised an eyebrow at the armored hero when he made eye contact again.

"School," Jaime said in explanation.

Conner got it. Every school had them, teens that played at being the big dogs and pushed others around. He certainly agreed with Jaime that a plasma cannon was an overreaction to school bullies, even if it sometimes felt tempting to let loose with superpowers to give them a lasting piece of humble pie.

"But it's not as much of a problem anymore," Jaime quickly added.

"Because the scarab calmed down, or because you've gotten better at dodging the bullies?" Conner astutely asked, getting a wince from Jaime in response.

With that response, Conner understood. Jaime hadn't let on about the scarab having an A.I. because it didn't understand playing nice. People wouldn't trust Blue Beetle if they knew the A.I. considered hurting largely innocent people a perfectly acceptable plan of action to give to Jaime. It would feed that fictional story inspired fear of A.I.s out to kill organic life or heroes tempted to the dark side. All of that would just make things harder on Jaime, seeing as he couldn't escape the scarab (Conner had seen the medical report, the scarab was probably impossible to remove, or if they did, it would leave Jaime crippled for life).

"It's not all advice on fighting though," Jaime sheepishly offered after a moment of reflective silence. "Sometimes Scarab just helps me with my math and biology homework. Not English though, even if I am tempted to turn in its analysis of the assigned reading just to see what the teacher says," Jaime explained with a chuckle.

"Yeah?" Conner asked with a grin. He knew Jaime was trying to reassure him that the Scarab wasn't all death and destruction, and Conner believed him. If the A.I. was all bad, he had no doubt Jaime would have taken being approached by the League and Team as a chance to be rid of it. In fact, if it offered help for something like homework, chances are it was looking out for Jaime and just overzealous in handling other problems.

"Yeah. Let's just say that Scarab doesn't do finding the symbolism like the teachers want very well and is more concerned with the 'tactical inefficiency' of the characters."

Conner laughed, well aware of the woes of high school English classes. "Not sure what kind of grade you'd receive for turning that in, but I'd read it."

They rode in companionable silence for a while before Conner spoke up again. "Just a piece of advice, but I'd really suggest telling the rest of the Team about the Scarab."

"You're not going to tell them?" Jaime asked, confused.

"It's not my secret to tell," Conner simply replied. "But the sooner the better. You don't deserve the strange looks you get for having to deal with that A.I."

Jaime looked down at his lap, then back up at Conner. "Thanks, hermano."

"No problem, Blue."

* * *

 **Author's Note**

So this is a short expansion for post S2 E4 and Conner learning that the Scarab is sentient. Now just imagine Scarab writing a book report for _Of Mice and Men_ or _Fahrenheit 451_ and tell me a tactical analysis wouldn't be at least mildly amusing.


	26. Get a Bigger Gun

**Get a Bigger Gun**

El Paso 

January 18, 15:42 MST

"So do you actually understand the alien script running across your vision, or is it just kind of there?" Victor asked.

"Focus on lining up your shot," Blue Beetle sternly reminded him. "But kind of? I mean, when I first got Scarab I didn't have a clue what the symbols meant, but now I can at least recognize certain words in Reach."

Victor grunted from the recoil of his palm laser, then tsked at the steel plate acting as his target.

"Failed again," Victor grumbled. The goal was to put a shot through the target or hit it with great accuracy, but he'd achieved neither, only leaving an off-center dent in the steel plate. "But you have that Reach A.I. to teach you, right?"

"Hmm," Blue Beetle contemplated the dent and Victor. "I mean, sure, Scarab would teach me how to properly read Reachese or whatever it's called, but most of what I can understand is from three years of observation more than anything else. Though if you really want to learn whatever language your tech is working in, I think Superboy could get you hooked up. He's got connections for 'Not Compatible' tech like yours."

"Man, I wish this stuff was compatible so you could just give me an instruction manual or something. I mean, I'm totally grateful you're helping me out with this," Victor quickly amended, shaking his more mechanical right arm, "but a manual would make it easier."

After the Fatherbox's soul got purged, Victor had finally taken Blue Beetle up on his offer to teach the ex-football player how to handle his alien tech. Most days it was lessons in dealing with passive systems, all the scanners, data streaming, and junk. But Blue had also taken him out on 'fieldtrips' to the hero's makeshift shooting range out in the desert, which is where they were today.

Blue chuckled. "Trust me, I wish I could get you a manual too. Scarab is always hyper-alert when things that are Not Compatible are around. Especially when the Not Compatible stuff is weapons hot."

Victor watched as his teacher's head tilted a bit and his eyes tracked to the side. One of the first things Blue Beetle had been sure to tell him when this alien tech tutoring started was that he had a chatty A.I. in his armor, so not everything he said would be directed at Victor, nor would he always catch everything Victor said. Blue Beetle wasn't crazy nor was he trying to be rude, he just had someone else talking in his ear. The ex-football player had been quick to learn the little tells for when Blue was listening to his bug.

"You think? …Well, I guess we've got nothing to lose trying. …What tactical advantage!? …You know what, never mind. Just pull up the hologram already."

Victor paid attention as Blue's armor made a little holographic figure.

"So Scarab says that sometimes Beetle Warriors will lose a limb," the holographic figure lost an arm, "so they'll use the armor as a prosthetic." The figure got armor like Blue's that also completed the arm. "Because the scarab systems are primarily weapons, the prosthetic is usually weaponized, like a laser in the palm," Blue continued, nodding at Victor's own prosthetic arm. "And when they need more firepower, instead of having to build around the limb like Scarab does for me, they can change the build of the limb." The figure's arm became a cannon.

"And you think I could do that?" Victor asked.

"Sure," Blue Beetle shrugged.

"Okay. I'll give it a try," Victor said, letting out a deep breath and closing his eyes. Just like Beetle taught him, he visualized what he wanted to happen and imagined the feeling of it happening.

There was a whir and click, and when Victor opened his eyes, his right hand had folded away while his forearm expanded to make a cannon arm.

"Whoa!" Victor looked at his arm's new form in awe.

"Huh, that actually worked."

"Wait, I thought you said you thought I could do it," Victor accused his mentor, annoyed.

"Yeah, more like it was a possibility," Blue Beetle said sheepishly. "We haven't got a clue how much your tech's shape can change, so there was a chance this wouldn't have worked."

Victor rolled his eyes.

"But you got it now, so might as well test fire it," Blue continued, gesturing to the still standing target.

When his arm cannon punched a fist-sized hole through the target, all of Victor's annoyance disappeared. It was so crash!

* * *

 **Author's Note**

You guys have no idea how happy I was to hear Victor had been working with Blue in S3E21. I've had the idea for Jaime helping with the whole "I have to live bonded to alien tech forever now" for a while, but hesitated to write it earlier because they were never seen interacting or much of Victor actually dealing with it (besides resenting it). I mean, it's kind of cool that Jaime gets to be a mentor when he never had one. I wish we got to see some of that actually in the show.


End file.
